"Absolutely not." Petra's voice was firm, brokering no argument.

Unfortunately for her, Liv was not easily deterred.

"Why?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

She was distantly aware of the three Techeuns listening to the exchange, their cowled heads tilting between her and the Queen's Wrath. Liv couldn't deny that she found them intimidating, but given that they were an exclusive group of robed Awoken with mysterious powers who never showed their eyes, she figured she was allowed to be a bit intimidated. Especially given how all three of them had managed to come back from being Taken — two had been rescued by Liv and her team when they went after Riven, one by a different fireteam of Guardians.

Shaking off Taken corruption was no small feat. Liv had only seen it done once before when Harley had been Taken by Oryx, and his recovery was an ordeal that lasted weeks, requiring the efforts of multiple Ghosts. For Mara's Techeuns to immediately return to the field after having been Taken, they had to be made of stern stuff indeed.

"You know why," said Petra, "We've seen what Janus can do just from getting into someone's head, we can't take any chances with what it will do if it gets a physical form."

"I know, but doesn't Janus have a point about the extraction going easier if we transferred him back to his original body?"

She directed the question at the Techeuns. Petra looked like she wanted to disagree out of hand, but Liv knew that the Queen's Wrath wasn't the real expert here.

"The Ahamkara's point does have merit," said Shuro Chi, "However, it would be foolish to proceed without considering all angles."

The other two Techeuns — Kalli and Sedia — nodded their agreement. Out of the three of them, Shuro was the one Liv had spoken to the most. She seemed to be the most approachable of the three. Liv had also spoken to Sedia on a few occasions, usually regarding the effects of the curse on the missions she undertook each week. Kalli, she only recalled speaking to during the campaign against Riven.

"We must take into account what is best for the city," said Kalli, "Has Queen Mara given her opinion on this matter?"

"She doesn't know about it," said Liv.

Suddenly, the Hunter felt the full force of the three Techeuns' gazes on her.

"That seems most unwise," commented Sedia. The note of disapproval in her voice reminded Liv of Zavala, and she fought the urge to duck her head. "Mara should be consulted on all matters pertaining to the safety of the city."

Liv was glad she didn't tell them that she hadn't been planning on telling Mara.

"I only found out that Janus was an Ahamkara recently, myself," she explained, "Mara was not there when I entered her court to update her."

The Techeuns' disapproving manner relaxed somewhat.

"Very well," conceded Sedia, "This will have to be resolved without her judgment… I assume that Janus has something to say on the matter."

Liv glanced at the Ahamkara, who was lounging on a nearby rock. Janus looked, for all intents and purposes, asleep, but she cracked an eye open at the mention of her name.

"It's no surprise that they are reluctant to grant me a physical form once more," she said, "But I would remind them that the terms would be, as I said, conditional… If they're worried that I would seek retribution for being entrapped in the data drive, reassure them that doing this would settle the score."

She closed her eye again.

Liv turned back to face the Techeuns. "Janus understands why you're… hesitant to agree to her idea. She agreed to operate under conditions."

"What conditions would she agree to?" asked Kalli.

"Tell her that if I was given my physical form back, I would agree not to interfere with the Dreaming City or with efforts to break the curse," replied Janus, not even bothering to open an eye this time.

Liv relayed the message. She could tell the Techeuns weren't completely convinced by it, but they still appeared much more amenable than Petra.

They conferred with each other in low voices for a moment, then Shuro spoke up. "It's not enough for Janus not to interfere. If we did this, the action would need to directly benefit the city. Otherwise, we could not justify it to our Queen."

Janus huffed in annoyance. "Fine. Tell them I'll work with the Guardians to break the curse."

Liv's eyebrows shot up in surprise, but she passed it along.

The Techeuns conferred again. This time, she saw a couple of nods.

"That is acceptable," said Shuro, "However, we would impose a further condition… Under no circumstances would Janus be allowed to grant wishes. To oversee this, we would need to appoint someone to keep an eye on them."

Liv glanced at Janus. "Would you agree to that?"

"I suppose," said the Ahamkara. She didn't sound very pleased, but at least she didn't outright refuse.

"Perhaps it would be possible to leave the bond between Livayla and Janus intact," Kalli suggested, "Livayla could monitor her actions."

Liv blinked in surprise. She hadn't thought something like that would be possible. She wasn't sure how she felt about Kalli suggesting it, but — assuming that Janus would no longer be draining her life force — the idea itself wasn't the worst thing ever.

Petra, however, seemed to think that it was.

"No," she said, "You ask far too much of Liv. That thing is draining her life force as we speak! How can you ask her to remain connected to it?"

Sedia held up a placating hand. "The bond itself would be diminished," she explained, "No longer parasitic in nature, nor would it allow Janus to read Livayla's thoughts. Instead, it would function as more of an empathy link. Less intrusive, while still alerting Livayla if Janus was up to something."

It didn't sound too terrible, Liv had to admit. It would be a far cry better than what she was currently dealing with, and it sounded like the Techeuns wouldn't agree to the plan unless there was some sort of measure in place to ensure that Janus wouldn't be able to cause too much trouble.

"I'm up for it." She didn't even wait for Janus' input, knowing full well that the Ahamkara would agree to almost anything if it meant she would get her body back.

Petra opened her mouth to argue, but Liv cut her off. "No seriously, Petra, I don't mind… I've already gotten used to being around Janus, and a Guardian is probably the best person to watch her anyway."

"Then it's settled," said Shuro, "Rather than destroy Janus, we will transfer them back to their former body while allowing the connection between them and Livayla to persevere… In return, Janus will agree to work towards the benefit of the Dreaming City and will refrain from granting any wishes. Their compliance will be monitored by Livayla, who will report their behavior to myself, Sedia, or Kalli."

"I'd like to be involved too," said Petra grimly, "Since you are insistent on moving forward with this plan, I would like to be kept in the loop."

The other two Techeuns frowned, but Shuro nodded. "Very well… Livayla will report any misbehavior on Janus' part to you as well." She turned back to face Liv, who could swear she felt the Techeun's piercing gaze even through the fabric concealing her eyes. "Make sure Janus knows that if they step out of line regarding any of the conditions we've laid down, we will convene again, and next time the consequences will be permanent."

Both sets of Janus' eyes were open. "I understand," said the Ahamkara.

It turned out that "hopping into the Ascendant Realm to extract the undead consciousness of an Ahamkara and transfer it to its original body" was not going to be as easy as Liv had thought.

Go figure.

First of all, she would be making the journey alone. She had assumed that Petra wouldn't be coming due to how much work she already had as the Queen's Wrath, but she had been hoping for some Techeun backup as she traversed the Ascendant Plane. It sounded like that wasn't going to be the case.

And she wasn't about to try to convince them to reconsider, either. Reefborn Awoken already tended not to think very highly of Guardians without Liv making the Techeuns think she needed babysitters. So she would just go it alone. Cool. Great. Except for the small detail that she had no idea where she was going.

Janus had a vague memory of where he had been killed, but there was no telling how that would translate to the Ascendant Realm. Once inside, Liv would have to navigate with Janus' help to find the remains. Then she would have to contact the Techeuns, who would join her to start the ritual.

No big deal.

The good news was, at the end of all this, she would be alive, hopefully no longer plagued by Janus' voice in her head, and he would have his body back.

Petra was already gone, having to return to her job of overseeing the Dreaming City. She had pressed Liv to visit her afterward for her own peace of mind. Liv had reassured Petra that nothing would go wrong — despite not being fully confident in that statement — but told her that she would stop by as soon as Janus was out of her head.

To her surprise, Rhys had also shared some of Petra's misgivings.

"Look," he'd said aside to her after the Queen's Wrath had departed, "I'm not saying I don't want Janus out of your head, but tampering with the mind is dangerous. There's a reason us Ghosts are forbidden from doing it to our Guardians… Just… I want to make sure you've thought this through, alright? That you're being careful.

"Don't worry, Rhys. I know what I agreed to… And it's not like I have a ton of other options here. If the Techeuns don't get Janus out of my head, he's going to consume my life force."

"I know," Rhys had said, "I just worry about you sometimes. Especially since you have to navigate the Ascendant Realm with no backup."

The Techeuns themselves hadn't stuck around for long either. Once the finer aspects of the plan had been solidified, they had told Liv to go to the Garden of Esila, where a portal would be waiting.

For some reason, the location amused Janus.

"They couldn't have chosen a more pointed location to stage the opening act of our plan," he told her as Liv rode her Sparrow toward the Strand.

She frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I'm surprised none of them told you… A great tragedy occurred there during the early days of the Dreaming City and of the Awoken's relationship with my kind. An Ahamkara named Azirim lured a gathering of Awoken off of the garden cliffs. Many lives were lost."

"That's horrible," said Liv with a shudder.

"It was before the Awoken learned how to cohabitate with the Ahamkara," Janus replied, "They were unused to the wiles of my kind and so were easily exploited… Azirim got away."

"...Could you- did you ever do anything like that?" she asked, almost dreading the answer.

"Nothing of that magnitude," the Ahamkara replied, "I am not nearly as powerful as Azirim was… Would it have been a dealbreaker if I had done such a thing, Livayla Marko?"

"Yes," said Liv stiffly.

Janus laughed at her answer. "My kind and your kind are not as different as you might like to believe, little Hunter… Or can you tell me that Guardians could not commit such atrocities?"

She couldn't, as much as she wished otherwise. The Guardians had a long and storied history of their own, and with that came their own share of nefarious characters. People like Dredgen Yor, or the Warlords of old. Guardians who were just as terrifying as the enemies they fought.

"No," she told Janus, "No, I can't."

After that, they continued on in silence. Even Rhys — who was usually outspoken in his concerns for dangerous missions — was oddly quiet. Liv couldn't stop going over the story of Azirim in her mind. Janus had to be right about the Techeuns' purpose in choosing the Garden of Esila — the site of a terrible tragedy at the hands of an Ahamkara.

It was a warning. A warning against trusting the word of an Ahamkara, and a reminder of what happened to those who had done so in the past.

Would she heed the warning? She'd like to think that she was doing so already. She didn't really trust Janus, right? She was only going through with it because she knew that as long as the Ahamkara had something to gain, he wasn't as likely to betray her.

But wait a moment. Janus would get a body either way, whether he went through with the extraction or just let her die. And agreeing to the extraction bound him in restrictions. Letting her die would be the simpler option for Janus. Unless things weren't that simple and he really was telling her the truth when he said he didn't want her to die.

She would still have to undergo the ritual to separate herself from Janus. What the Techeuns were getting at was whether or not she would let Janus live. The Techeuns could easily extract and then kill the Ahamkara without transferring him back to his body. Janus had mentioned complications with that method, but it wouldn't end with her dying which was what would happen if Janus stayed in her head.

She had the ability to decide the Ahamkara's fate.

Liv was so preoccupied with the revelation that she almost didn't see the figure standing in her path until it was too late.

Alerted by Rhys' warning cry, her head snapped up and she swerved hard, the tail of her Sparrow swinging out as she drifted around the person. She jerked the controls sharply straight, killing her momentum as the Sparrow completed its arc, coming to a stop behind them.

Blood coursing with adrenaline and breathing hard, Liv dismounted her Sparrow and strode toward the person who had blocked her path.

"Hey! What's the idea, buddy?!" she demanded, "I could have crashed!"

The figure turned to face her and Liv's indignation melted into shock as Uldren Sov stared back at her — a sheepish look on his face.

A/N: Not me nearly forgetting to update again. In my defense, I got sidetracked by other projects that I hope to post in the near future.

Anyway, it's time to enter the Ascendant Realm and finish this once and for all.

See you next week!